Single 36 Volt Lithium Battery--Real World Success in My Boat

Lithium batteries in boating applications aren’t new, in fact, some of the Ranger boats at our dealership have been coming standard from the factory with lithium batteries for several years now. But those have been the traditional 12-volt models wired in series to get 36 volts of lithium power for bow trolling motors. I took the next step and decided to test out one of the 36-volt batteries as a single stand-alone power source.

 Actually, I thought that I’d use the two dedicated spots for group 31 sized batteries in my boat to run a pair of small 36-volt units wired in parallel to double the capacity. I bought the first battery and found that a pair would have been overkill for my application. And I’m not a “softie” on my bow troller. I’m a ripper when Livescope searching at high speeds and I’m a nightfishing troller running crankbaits in the dark while sucking juice through the electric troller. I fully expected to need tons of amp hours to handle my fishing style—WRONG!

A little background…I’ve been running my Livescopes on 54 amp hour 12-volt lithium batteries for a couple years now. That keeps those power-hungry monsters from draining anything else in the boat. Two Livescopes, each on its own stand-alone 54 ah battery. Two fishing days of runtime… But there is one big problem. I live in the North—Montana—and the majority of the lithium batteries on the market can’t be charged below 32 degrees Fahrenheit. And I fish in the cold season more than I fish the summer. I’m in the boat business and I just plain have more fishing time in the cold season than I have during typical summer boating season.

I’ve been coveting lithium trolling motor power for a couple years but have not been willing to deal with the cold charging issue. I’ve mounted my Livescope lithiums so they are super easy to remove and bring in the house to charge. (I’m a cheap SOB trying not to run the heat in my heated garage—obviously an old fart). But my trolling motor battery compartment is deep in the bilge under the rod locker. Removing the battery(s) for charging would be a bit of a pain, and I’m not keen on disconnecting and reconnecting wiring every time I charge while moving piles of rods out of the boat day-after-day. Even if I heated my garage, I’d still have issues when taking my annual winter fishing trips to the Columbia River and elsewhere.

The newer self-heating lithiums were my obvious solution. Plug them in and they activate an internal heating blanket first before charging—Perfect! But they have all been bigger than group 31 size—my largest size option for my battery compartment--until now. The first time the Enjoybot 36-volt heated lithium battery in Group 31 size popped into my feed I knew I had to have one or two NOW! But this awesome battery only packed 65 amp hours of 36v power. That’s why I figured I’d need two in parallel wiring. As an old cheapskate I convinced myself to try one first. I mounted it in the boat and started paying attention. The battery has Bluetooth monitoring showing the state of charge, the amp drain while running the bow troller etc. You can see the specs on this battery here https://enjoybot.com/products/enjoybot-36v-65ah-bluetooth-self-heating-lifepo4-lithium-battery-group-31-2496wh-120a-bms?variant=45839166963927?aff=230

First time on the water I did a little test. Ran 5 hours with 3 of it sniping and running around in search mode then did 2 hours trolling at 2 mph pulling big deep divers like a mad fiend—a big amp draw! That was in calm conditions, but still…I had 73% of my battery left. I didn’t charge it and did 5 more hours of Livescoping the next day. Those were soft hours since I was on fish and not roaring around willy nilly but after a total of more than 10 hours my battery charge was still at 63%. Damn! Subsequent tests were similar. Then the moon cycle hit. I’ve built a career on my nightfishing and here’s what you need to know. Trolling at 1.5 mph for a total of 15.5 hours over a couple nights and my 36v battery was still at 64% charge! And it recharged in just over 2.5 hours with the “normal” speed charger.

The Big Fish Don't Like My New Battery. I Almost Have No Time Limits For Nightfishing Anymore

In the almost two months I’ve been running this single 65ah 36v Enjoybot battery I’ve only once gotten it below 50% charge and that was after 3 trips without charging and with one trip involving hours of fishing in windchop so bad my electric was coming out of the water at times. Got it clear down to 46%. I have absolutely no need for a second battery wired in with this one. It’s got me handled for any single day I will ever do and really seems to be enough to handle most any weekend without recharging.

Are there any negatives to this battery? Well, if your 36v charger you order with the battery dies on you, where do you go to get another 36v charger before tomorrow’s fishing day? Not NAPA or Walmart. I solved this problem by sourcing an Amazon cheapie 36v charger for $75. So, I have a higher end 12-amp medium speed charger that can be mounted in the boat (I probably won’t mount it) that I bought from Enjoybot with the battery. Works fabulous and doesn’t even heat up. My backup or travel charger is faster at 18 amps. The Bluetooth system in the battery shows me that both chargers are pushing almost exactly advertised specs. I’m happy!

The Enjoybot 12 amp Charger Came with Nice Anderson Connectors and Charges Quickly Without Much Heat 

What about the initial cost? Lithium batteries aren’t cheap. Well, Enjoybot is a bit of a discounter, and I admittedly considered it a risk to buy a discount-priced lithium from a company I’d never heard of. At the time I bought, I didn’t even research Enjoybot, I have since. Here’s the deal. Real company with real corporate systems and with real low prices. I’ve watched numerous lithium battery teardowns online (old fart) and Enjoybot’s “guts” are top notch and very well constructed. Better than many other tear-downs I’ve seen online. You can see the entire Enjoybot line-up here:  https://enjoybot.com/?aff=230

Here's the price equation. My Enjoybot 36v 65ah heated lithium battery cost about $50 less than buying 3 smaller Group 29 lead/acid traditional batteries. About $150 less than 3 Group 31 lead/acid batteries AND my boat only has dedicated storage for 2 bow troller batteries. My brushless Garmin bow troller will run on anything from 20 to 45 volts, but it wasn’t nearly as studly on the previous 24v lead/acid system I was using vs this new 36v lithium. Add in the price of a charger (or two) and you can switch to a single 36v heated lithium Enjoybot 65ah for nearly the same price as a repower with 3 new lead/acids. 

This new battery has a ten-year warranty, but I’ll be blunt, grandpa taught me that warranty is irrelevant when using a tool—it can’t break! If it needs warranty coverage it wasn’t built strong enough for your use! So, I’m hoping to never test the warranty, and I really won’t know much until I put some years on it. I don’t know how the heating system works yet either, I’m not close to freezing temps yet. I watched a couple tests of the heating system on Enjoybot teardowns and the sensor tests out well.

I’ve been converted and convinced! For what it cost--a little over $500--I’d buy this battery again, even if it has a warranty issue in a few years. The performance trounces the lead/acid option, and it only weighs 41 pounds instead of triple that for 3 lead/acid batteries.

You can check out the 36v 65ah Enjoybot battery here  https://enjoybot.com/products/enjoybot-36v-65ah-bluetooth-self-heating-lifepo4-lithium-battery-group-31-2496wh-120a-bms?variant=45839166963927?aff=230 Yes, they spiff me if you click the link and buy. And you should click the link and buy. I’m darn glad I did!